“You can’t be the most beautiful avenue in the world and have the ugliest terraces on Earth. » The observation is brutal but clear. If the Avenue des Champs-Elysées often prides itself on being without equal (by taste or by chauvinism), it has, for several years, been criticized by tourists and Parisians alike.
Roadworks, holes in the road, electric cables hanging above heads and a myriad of signs of all kinds. The Champs-Elysées Committee and its president Marc-Antoine Jamet also make this observation. If beautification work should begin after the Paris 2024 Olympic Games as part of the “Re-enchanting the Champs-Elysées” project, the Committee did not wait for the big event to tackle the case of the terraces.
Create a visual identity
Or rather counter-terraces, these extensions installed a little further on the sidewalk. Restaurants, cafes, hotels… There are nineteen of them in total on the upper part of the avenue and each has its own format and its own graphic codes. A beautiful visual cacophony.
“This creates a certain confusion” comments Marc-Antoine Jamet who took the decision, in agreement with the 180 members of the committee, the Paris City Hall and the 19 brands concerned to review the visual identity of these structures in order to harmonize them. A mission entrusted to the Belgian designer, Ramy Fischler who presented his project this Tuesday.
The return of “English Cowherds”
First point, find overall consistency. Also, all the counter-terraces of the avenue will be made up of the same frames inspired by the “English Vacheries”, formerly installed in the Gardens of the Champs-Elysées. These metal structures surrounded by a clay gray protective canvas and a mignonette green sunroof, through blinds, will display the same colors on the outside.
Each brand, depending on its needs and the size of its business, will then be able to install from one to six frames (each measuring 4.2m*5m). All parallel to the avenue, to allow better visibility of the signs, and aligned to prevent pedestrians from having to zigzag between the structures, as is currently the case in front of the Alsace and Five Guys restaurants, for example.
This “route” should also improve the aesthetics of the avenue… seen from the sky. Often filmed and photographed from heights (Tour de France, July 14 parade, demonstrations, etc.), the Champs-Elysées had to take care of this profile.
Customization possibilities for businesses
And the aesthetic unity doesn’t stop on the outside. To further mark it, the Committee of the Champs-Elysées even went so far as to publish its own furniture catalog, with the assistance of the RF Studio agency. Brands will then be able to choose from seven different models, in rattan and metal, to equip their terrace. In other words, McDonald’s burgers and Ladurée macaroons will be enjoyed in the same seats. “The idea is to create a clear and recognizable homogeneity to the avenue. Anyone, looking at a photo taken on a terrace, should be able to know that it is the Champs-Elysées,” explains Marc-Antoine Jamet.
If the Committee thus wants to “give pride of place to the avenue, and not just to the brands, it does not, however, forget the interest of traders. Also, Ramy Fischler kept a space for personal expression for them. Everyone will be able to choose from five pre-selected colors to decorate the interior. Colors that will be clearly visible from the sidewalk to passers-by.
As visible as the logos of these signs will be, arranged on the side of the frames, in the direction of pedestrian walking, they will be left to the choice of merchants but their size and arrangement will however be governed by regulations.
400,000 euros on average
In the same way, retailers will be able to install glass walls, 1m30 high, if they wish, on one, two or three sides of the frames depending on their operation. Enough to protect customers from the wind… and theft.
If the costs of such terraces, covered by the brands themselves (the upstream work was financed by the Champs-Elysées Committee), remain a sensitive subject, the Committee puts forward an average of 400,000 euros per brand.
Deadline April 1, 2024
All existing terraces must be replaced before April 1, under penalty of fines for businesses. The Committee even suggests that the first terrace will be in place at the beginning of December.
“We are not going to hide that we had fears at the start of the project,” explains Jean-Charles Blanchetot, general manager of 86Champs (the Pierre Hermé/L’Occitane brands), “but the result is very beautiful. » For this manager, present on the avenue for more than ten years, and who will have a 105-seat terrace, the avenue gains in prestige and “standing” what it loses in personalization. “But being the most beautiful avenue in the world takes work. »